By John Gregg Watsonville, CA. (February 20, 2008) —If you want to track down the Greenwood family of Little Rock, Arkansas, well, the best place to probably start is out on the water.
From the dad Scott, to the mom Jane and the two youngsters, 13-year-old Brittany and her brother 11-year-old Sam, the entire Greenwood clan seems most at home when they are out on the water jumping the wake and having a great time out on the lake.
Scott and Jane first met when they were in college and both on the ski team at Northeast Louisiana University. That romance on the water blossomed and the Greenwoods have been now for married fourteen years. When their kids came along, well, they just kept skiing. All four of the Greenwoods are very talented athletes and compete on the national level.
“It was just a family affair. I started out on the public lake skiing with my mom and dad,” Scott Greenwood recalled. “We would go out on the weekends on a little lake, Lake Hamilton outside of Hot Springs and do some skiing,”
Scott was good enough to earn an athletic scholarship and it while he was on the ski team a young lady named Jane caught his eye and she would become his future wife.
“We were on the Water Ski Team at Louisiana Monroe, it use to be called Northeast Louisiana University and we there on water ski scholarships,” Scott explained. “Now they call it University of Louisiana Monroe and we skied on a National Championship team. When we graduated from college we continued skiing, just as a passion and a hobby. We just enjoyed it so much as the kids were born we got them involved and skiing. That is kind of how it developed.”
 Brittany is in the 8th grade at school and her brother Sam is a 6th grader, where they both attend class at Christ the King School in Little Rock. Both the kids play basketball and Sam is the starting point guard on his team and also plays soccer. However, it is out on the water that all of the Greenwoods have made their mark.
This past year Brittany captured her first national championship. The young athlete needed a jump of at least 102 feet on her third and final attempt to capture her first career national title. The Arkansas 8th grader blasted out a leap of 106 feet to set a pending Girls 2 national record and clinch the national title at the 65th Water Ski National Championships, in Arvin, California.
All four of the Greenwoods were at the Nationals and Brittany’s effort marked a great week for the skiing family from Little Rock. The matriarch of the Greenwood family, Jane, who won her first national jumping title at the same age as Brittany in 1981 in Tyler, Texas, earned podium finishes in Women 3 slalom (fifth), tricks (second), jumping (second) and overall (second). The dad Scott had podium placements in Men 3 tricks (fifth) and overall (fifth); and the youngest member of the Greenwood quartet Sam earned a spot on the podium in Boys 2 tricks (fourth).
“It’s a lot of fun to ski as a family,” Brittany confided. “It was an exciting, special week.”
Scott owns a family business in Arkansas, where he specializes in construction and new homes and remodeling, however, his passion is his family and being outdoors with his wife and kids.
“Originally we skied because we enjoyed it,” Scott explained. “As we developed into a family it is just a blast to be skiing together and going to places together and competing together. It just keeps us all together when we are on the water. It is a lifestyle.”
Scott’s love of the water and getting the chance to share quality time with his family is also strongly felt by his by his lovely wife Jane. The former national champion also knows that the Greenwoods share a special bond.
“One of the best things about water skiing is that we get the opportunity to be together and to compete together. It is awesome,” Jane Greenwood says. “It just makes you so proud whenever they are out on the water. You just want them to do their best everytime that they are out there. The come in and they’re happy. In fact they are just happy to be out there skiing.”
Currently, Brittany is ranked number one in jump and overall in her age division and 3rd in slalom. Sam has several years left competing years in Boys 2 Division and he continues to come on strong. Sam is on the top of the Ranking list for Boys 2 Division, as an overall skier. He is also ranked number two in trick skiing and number two in jumping. The 6th grader is getting ready to sign up for the USA under 13-Team, which will be a new addition for skiing. Four athletes will be selected, two boys and two girls, to go to Colombia for the Pan American Championships in July.
“It is really fun to be out on the water. It's fun to have my dad teaching me stuff,” Sam Greenwood says. “I haven’t set many goals for this season but I want to jump further. My best event is probably tricking. I have been enjoying that. It has been really exciting. I just really want to see how far I can push myself. I really haven’t set out goals yet but I just want to get better.”
Scott Greenwood has spent a great deal of time coaching both of his youngsters but he has also volunteered his time to helping out a number of other young athletes who water ski. For his efforts and his time, Greenwood was recognized as USA Water Ski’s Developmental Coach of the Year in 2006:
 “I guess you could say that I free lance coach more than I coach for hire. Over the years I have had opportunities to coach some pretty good skiers,” Scott Greenwood said “I have always enjoyed coaching and working with kids. That is probably one of my passions is working with the kids. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I guess somebody recognized the work I was doing. It was a great honor for someone to pay attention to what you do in the local community and also on the regional level.”
Both of the Greenwood parents have enjoyed all the success that their children have had on the water, however, they also both stress balance between athletics and schoolwork. Nevertheless, it has been fun for both Scott and Jane to see the kids have so much fun and success in the sport they both grew up loving.
“First we were sort of amazed on the schedule she was on and she was doing real well. We just stayed humble training, Scott confided. “We just stayed humble on trying to stay focused on the plan that we had laid out. A lot of things can go wrong but there are so many variables in there with your equipment and the potential for injury, so there’s so much that can wrong and it can set you back. We didn’t get too excited about it too early and we just stayed centered and focused on what we were trying to do to continue.”
 Winning is always great but if you ask Jane the biggest gift that the family has gotten from water skiing is that they all get to spend so much time together not only competiting but also traveling to different parts of the country together as a family.
“What I like the best is to go to the tournaments together and skiing together and seeing my family all the time,” Jane says with a laugh. “It makes us a stronger family.”
As far as the future goes, well, according to dad the kids will keep skiing as long as it is fun. There is no pressure on either Brittany or Sam to perform but when the time comes they will gather as a family and map out what they hope to accomplish in 2008.
“We won’t start skiing until late in March and we haven’t really set goals for this year yet. We are just basking a little bit in last year,” Scott says. “We will set down together all of us and we will write down their goals which is what we did last year.”
The Greenwoods all get something special out of the sport and water skiing is close to all of their hearts. For mom, dad and the kids, well, it is just fun.
 “For the kids it is kind of a cool sport, as opposed to basketball, football, baseball, or soccer. There aren’t a lot of people that do it. It is recognition for them and that is a little different. It just isn’t your everyday sport,” Scott Greenwood believes. “If there’s anything about it is that it is just fun to get out and ride. It’s great to ski and be able to carve and to do the things at that age is just unreal. It is just a fun sport. You’re outside. You’re in and out of the water, you’re not confined to the team aspect. Who doesn’t love to go the lake in the summertime?”
If you happened to be out on the water in Arkansas this spring or summer and see someone with a huge smile on their face and a large rooster tail trailing behind them, well, say Hi. It’s a pretty good bet it is one of the Greenwoods.
Photos courtesy of USA Water Ski |
